-ing

I spent a year or two excising -ing from my daily reflections.  The workshop folk had a point.  There were many times I used it unthinkingly.  As with any rule, though, applying it to every situation is unwarranted.  I am also less certain of the importance of being definitive: past, present or future.

When I attended the poetry workshop

I learned

-ing is to be avoided

At almost every cost.

It is important to be definitive,

Certain:

Past certain

Present certain

Future certain.

-ing weakens the poem.

-Ing makes the verb

Into a process.

The process dampens

Into a noun.

The dance becomes

Dancing,

The song

Mere singing.

Death ekes into the gray

Of dying,

Life becomes living.

-ing forces the verb

To stay on

Like the guest after three days

Over-staying his welcome,

Her welcome.

The poem is meant

To be shorter

Than prose.

Soon there comes the time

For leaving.

Like now